I have read with some amusement. There are those who have spent the years (excuse me, decades) studying directly in Japan sometimes with many of the very people we so casually discuss. There are also those who are professional translators who agonize over fine distinctions of meaning.

Then there are those who read tiny bits of sometimes not-so-great translations which is itself only a tiny part of the overall writings let along the unwritten history who then cherry pick only those tiniest of bits that can be twisted and contorted in to fitting a pre-existing world view. There is no arguing because evidence, knowledge, experience are not relevant to some. The only thing that matters is that they've intuited what they consider to be the greater truth. Hence only those things that confirm that truth will ring true for them. And only those things will be accepted as relevant.

All that said, I am astounded at the vast patience and polite, courteous writing of those who've spent their lifetimes studying these things like Dr. Goldsbury.

Didn't have anything else to add because quite frankly folk like Dr. Goldsbury, Mr. Rehse here, Mr. Li and others who have posted have vastly more foundation from which to speak than some of the Nidan Shihan-types posting. Which, incidentally, someone called me, well, years ago and it stung at the time. And he was right. The ensuing years (decades) have greatly mellowed my omniscience. Funny how that works.

So I'll continue to take notes and get back to reading Dr. Goldsbury's latest installment. Fantastic stuff as usual.

I guess my point is this -- there are people here speaking to some of the best authorities alive on some of these topics, often with direct, relevant, and decades long experience. And yet it appears to be easier for some to continue with their own carefully constructed world-views based on, well, not much at all except small snippets of stuff someone else translated. I suggest that those people might want to consider starting up their own art calling it whatever they wish if they feel their insights are so overwhelmingly important and relevant to the world today. But if you're going to start making claims about what Ueshiba said or meant, or what Tomiki said or meant, well, maybe you should have a little more than what you got from selective reading of just a tiny percentage of the writings of these people. And maybe it would be good to pay more attention to what others with a vastly broader background are telling you.